Via Ripetta and Accademia di Belle Arti

- Roma Viva.

Via Ripetta and Accademia di Belle Arti

Via Ripetta, the road running from the Mausoleum towards Piazza del Popolo, is named after the port which used to be located along this bank of the Tiber River. The street used to be known as Via Leonina because it took on its final form at the beginning of the 16th century during the works carried out by Pope Leo X.

Because of the nearby port, the street housed the residences of port workers, loaders, tender owners and other boat people, making it the liveliest and most colorful street in the whole neighborhood.
In 1845, Pope Gregory XVI commissioned the building of an academy for training artists and for studying the visual arts, the Accademia di San Luca. The building faces onto a colonnaded piazza which is called the Horse Shoe because of its shape. Today it is known as the Accademia di Belle Arti.